An 8.8 magnitude earthquake struck Santiago, Chile in the early hours of February 27th. Tsunami warnings, encompassing most of the Pacific Ocean, soon followed. These types of breaking news events often spur a surge in social engineering scams which exploit interest in the events.

Commonly, scam artists might seed search engine results (particularly sponsored ads) with bogus links that point to scareware sites. These can appear for any search on keywords such as Chile earthquake, Tsunami, etc. The best way to avoid such scams is to avoid clicking on links that point to unfamiliar sites. In particular, avoid donating charitable funds via unfamiliar sites or as a result of a solicitation received via email, Twitter, instant message, Facebook, or other social networking medium.

Google has prepared a fully vetted information site for the Chilean earthquake, including relief efforts and reputable disaster relief funds:http://www.google.com/relief/chileearthquake/.

Source: http://antivirus.about.com/b/2010/02/27/be-on-alert-for-chile-earthquake-scams.htm